RAZON. — Founder of the Aramean Kingdom of Damascus, son of a certain Eliada (Hebrew *Rézón è Eljádhá*; in Greek, mss. B, L and in the Old Latin: *Esmom*, perhaps a transcription of the Hebrew *Hezjón* [I *Kgs 15:18*], ancestor of Ben-hadad). An officer in the army of Hadadezer and of Zobah, having escaped the defeat inflicted upon him by David (II *Sam 8:3–6; 10:15–19*), Razon gathered other fugitives around him and became the leader of a powerful band of raiders. By a bold coup, he seized Damascus and soon made it the capital of a kingdom that, though at times glorious, finally succumbed only to the Assyrian Empire (732; V. RASIN).
With the aim of controlling the trade routes to the Mediterranean and Egypt, besides Zobah and other Aramean cities, he conquered Hamath near Mount Hermon (L. Desnoyers [V. *op. cit.* in bibl.], II, p. 220, n. 1); yet the city was retaken by Solomon (II *Chr 8:3*), though Razon continued to trouble him more than Edom did in the south (I *Kgs 11:23 ff.*).